The future, or rather....The present
Far to the north in the frozen wastelands where no mortal lived, something was stirring. The thick clouds that hung so high in the sky above the expanse of ice began to rumble and swirl as its master called to them. As it moved, individual shapes could be made out. Shapes of giant horses made of the very concept of cold itself, eyes glowing with indomitable energy as they began to gallop through the air in unison.
The Windegos were coming.
As the rumble of their stampede spread across the planet to their destination, the lands below grew cold. The sky grew with incoming arrival. They could not be reasoned with. They could not be dissuaded from their mission. When their master called to them, they answered without question.
The element of Magic had turned on their master.
The Tree of Harmony saw no grey. It saw no gradients of morality. It had decided that it was good...
...and that this reality was evil... and it would end it by the rising of the morning sun.
The sun that was risen by its princesses will.
-----------
The canterlot military were not prepared for the attack. The buffalo had stampeded into the city in the middle of the night, whooping war cries as they smashed through walls and ponies alike. They poured in form every entrance by the thousands in an organized mass, some groups wielding ropes that pulled out Dragon sneeze Trees and other similar flora and pulled them out of the building. The few guards that were on duty wandering the streets were only prepared to meet an occasional pony drunk off of cider or had gone on a bit too long on the salt lick, not a military force.
Before an alarm was even able to be raised it had been stripped of its ground defenses against dragons. The soldiers poured out of the castle in droves, some of them barely in armor as they tried to figure out what was going on in the middle of the night like this.
Then fire began to rain from the sky.
The entire city of canterlot was in a panicked state. Thousands upon thousands of dragons of all sizes swarmed in the sky, carpet bombing home and military structure alike. Nobility were shrieking in terror, fillies clung to their mothers, and those who could fight and weren't running were finding themselves on the end of a losing battle.
Celestia burst though one of her stained glass windows and fired off a beam of magic at the first dragons she saw. She tried her best to maneuver around the sky with her wonderbolts and pegasi soldiers, doing everything in her power to try to save her ponies. She had not expected such an organized assault. Her castle was crumbling below her and her magic was not strong enough to fend off the massive brood that had descended upon the land.
Shining Armor rushed out in full military garb, focusing his magic to summon up his force field that had driven back an entire changeling army. The stampeding buffalo prevented such an action from happening. This group had been especially trained to spot this one unicorn, and was briefed on his ability to summon such shields.
He struggled valiantly but against their overwhelming numbers and larger size he was shoved to the ground.
A Hoof smashed down onto his horn, making him cry out as It was crushed under the weight of the blow.
Celestia looked at the burning desolation and shook her head slowly. All the sacrifices she had made to give her ponies peace, to save them from utter extinction from the windegos, all of it was unraveling in front of her eyes.
"Looks like I missed a party..."
Celestia started in the air before turning around. Her student was behind her with a malevolent grin on her face, her body warped in a strange yet far too familiar way.
'Twilight...not you too..."
Midnight Sparkle laughed uproariously at that. Everything seemed funny to her in her nightmare form as her mouth twitched in an uncontrollable grin.
"Dear princess Celestia....Today I learned that everything is a lie and that pony kind are nothing but pawns to some super powered crystal WEED...."
A green dragon swooped in while Midnight was talking and tried to eat her right out of the sky. That moment dragged for Midnight as she casually looked over to the critter's open maw.
"Shh.... The grownups are talking..." In a show of force the Dragon yelped as he was rocketed back from a pulse of magic from the Nightmare, crashing into a guard tower far in the distance.
Celestia flapped in place and gripped her head between her hooves, her composure that seemed so absolute starting to waver.
"Twilight, You have to understand, All I did I did for the good of Equestria..."
The nightmare teleported right in front of Celestia and back handed her across the face, sending her former teacher catapulting her back into her throne room through another stained glass window. It was the one depicting her former student that was now floating through the broken shards of glass. She was a stark contrast to the peaceful looking pony that once resided in that window since her coronation.
"WAKE UP CELESTIA! THE TREE OF HARMONY DOESN'T CARE ABOUT US! IT NEVER CARED ABOUT US! ALL IT WANTED WERE PUPPETS AND WE WERE THE ONLY SPECIES STUPID ENOUGH TO HAND OVER OUR STRINGS!"
"SHE SPEAKS THE TRUTH SISTER. WE HAVE ALL BEEN PLAYED THE FOOL OF"
Celestia's bruised face turned to see her worst fears coming to life before her eyes. Nightmare Moon walked into the throne room and stood beside the maniacal Twilight. Surprisingly, Her sister's nightmare form was far more stoic than it had been the last time.
"Luna...Why? After all we've done...You don't know how hard it was for me to convince it to simply seal you on the moon instead of killing you....I wanted so desperately to have you back...."
Nightmare Moon raised her wings and looked down at her fallen sister.
"THE WINDEGOS WORK FOR THE TREE OF HARMONY DEAR SISTER...WE MADE OUR PACT WITH THE VERY DEVIL THAT DROVE OUR KIND TO THE BRINK OF EXTINCTION!"
Celestia stared off into space in that moment. That information hit her like a ton of bricks. The din of war going on outside and the warcries of pony, buffalo, and dragon alike grew silent to her ears.
How could she, The supposedly regal princess everypony looked up to, not see the truth after all this time. Perhaps she didn't want to. Perhaps she was too afraid to admit it. The tree was a terrifying force of nature. In the entire time she had known it it had never been defeated, never once did its magic fail to smite an enemy.
The princess of the sun cried as her kingdom fell, and black smoke began to envelope her body. She cried tears of rage that it had been made a fool of, forced to seal the only family member she had on the moon because she wanted to keep her subjects safe from its wrath. She had been a good little princess for it for so long, and for what...
The slowly rising sun inflated and grew a deep shed of red in the morning sky, its darkened presence looming over the land as it was risen by her power. Her mane was no longer regal and shades of green and purple, it was a fiery mass of rolling magic, as was her tail. Through her tears she let out a peal of laughter, the maddening laughter of fear as she knew this world wasn't going to last much longer. Midnight and Nightmare Moon joined her in her fearful mirth.
Nightmare Star Stood with her comrades in arms.
"IT IS A PLEASURE TO HAVE YOU WITH US DEAR SISTER, WE HAVE ANOTHER THAT IS ABOUT TO AWAKEN FROM THEIR SLUMBER AS WELL."
The castle shook at its foundations.
The Dragon Lord was making himself known.
-----
"Uh...guys? Why why is the sun all big and red?" Rainbow Dash asked nervously as she looked at the ominous sunrise. She turned to her friends. "You....you don't think this has anything to do with...you know...Twilight going...."
Fluttershy was still sobbing over the whole affair. The equal sign villagers had deserted the town and nopony knew what she did with their leader Starlight Glimmer. None of them could stop Twilight after she had went nightmare on them, and none of them understood why it happened. The ever increasing wind that had a bone chilling edge to it wasn't helping matters in the slightest.
"Ah knew somethin was troublin her, Ah shoulda pressed harder..."
"No worries Applejack, nothing much you can do about it now."
They turned to see a familiar Draconequus nestled on the roof of one of the equal sign houses. He looked at the town in disgust.
"Blegh, far too orderly for my taste. I would dress this drab place up but since this reality is coming to an end soon I guess there isn't a point....ah what the hey." He snapped his fingers and made one of the houses out of candy canes and lollipops.
"What y'all mean...about this reality ending..." Applejack asked apprehensively.
Discord looked down at the group of them. "I mean literally what I said dear old AppleJack, This reality is coming to an end."
Fluttershy sped up to him with a panicked look "But why? Can't you do something? I don't want it to end Discord!"
Rainbow looked at him suspiciously, "This isn't your fault is it?"
"Goodness no, I haven't even BEEN in this reality for a few weeks. Apparently somepony went and pissed off The Tree of Harmony. Trust me from personal experience..." he stretched his body out and brought the upper half of himself to where they were standing and whispered "...it doesn't end well..."
"Well....well how do we...UNpiss it off..." Applejack said, her legs starting to shake as she saw a rolling cloud pillar of clouds like nothing pony kind had ever seen started to appear on the horizon. All they had known was their little manageable pony made weather. This was something else entirely.
"You can't my dear, its already made up its mind. You are lucky I decided to drop in when I did." He stuck his claw through something in mid air and ripped a hole in reality.
"I'll be honest with you, I just came for Fluttershy, but I know she'll be grumpy with me if I leave her friends behind. Well come on in, I'm not waiting in this reality for too much longer."
"Wait! What about mah family, our friends, Twilight, our..." Her eyes were watering as the gravity of the situation started hitting her.
Discord's face hardened for a brief second before levitating Applejack up into the air so they were face to face. Applejack had never seen the trickster as serious as he was at that moment. "This. is. Your. literal. only. chance. to survive this...I suggest you take it while I'm feeling generous."
Fluttershy hugged Discord and sobbed. One by one, with varying degrees of apprehension, the other ponies started to clamber into the portal. Discord wanted to leave this reality as soon as possible. He did not want to be around when the final act played in this reality. Not if he could help it.
"Good luck Twilight." he said in a somber tone. "Maybe this time will be different."
----------
The war of Canterlot halted with a sudden earthquake. Enemy combatant and fleeing civilian alike froze as the ground began to crack and the burning castle of Canterlot began to implode on itself. Something had shattered its foundations and it was coming apart in seeming slow motion. A large silhouette pressed through it, growing larger and larger as it towered in the place the castle once stood. The massive being made the former structure seem trivial in comparison, its height seemed to stretch into the sky itself, and its tail whipped about, creating whirlwinds in the wake of its movement.
The Dragon Lord had awakened.
Three nightmares descended to the ground.
Nightmare Star
Nightmare Moon
Midnight Sparkle
The Dragon lord crouched down before the frozen battle, all eyes staring up at him, not daring to move an inch.
The ponies knew not what to do. They looked to their rulers, all in terrifying forms as they bent a knee towards the behemoth before them in submission.
"Dragons! Buffalo! Pony!" The Dragon Lord that had once been a baby dragon called out. He was just as scared as they were in this moment, but he had learned to steel his nerves like his former self all those years ago. He must not show weakness to his subjects. He must be strong for them.
"Our battle is not among ourselves...There is only one enemy we must face. An enemy that has sunk its roots into all of our lives and claims ownership of this entire world."
The clouds that rolled in over the Everfree Frorest started to block out the bloated and darkened sun.
The windegos were coming.
"All those who can still fight, I ask you to join me in a war to end all wars. We will not submit to the rule of the Twig any longer. Do not look with wrath at the ponies my dragon kin, for they are under my rule now. The princesses have relinquished their kingdom unto me."
The Dragon Lord stood up tall and spread his arms wide. Spells he had learned in his slumber filled his mind. His old Armory was exactly as his past self had left it.
Black Armor was summoned with emerald flame around his body and on the bodies of all the dragons present. The Nightmares raised up and called their ponies to arms in unison. The Buffalo readied themselves for their last Stampede.
Out of the smoldering ruins of Canterlot, The Dragon Lords new brood charged.
They charged...united against the Tree Of Harmony.
--------------
How many times had this timeline played out? The tree did not recall the exact number as it sent its windegos charging after the advancing army. Their cold spread throughout the land as they collided with Dragon, Pony, and buffalo alike. This was a rare timeline to be sure, but that did not mean that it hadn't seen this same formation billions of times before.
Just as it would see it billions of times again.
The Tree of Harmony had its roots in all realities, and all times within those realities. The Dragon Lord charging against it with a band of dragons and ponies alike for their final struggles against it was just another cog in the machine of the multiverse to it. It had given them every opportunity to repent. It had given them every chance to see the error in their logic so they can enjoy the true peace that it was offering.
These near sighted third dimensional creatures simply didn't know any better. No matter. Even if one reality is a failure, many others will be just as likely to see its line of thinking. For every Twilight that turns against the Tree of Harmony, millions upon millions of others just like her in different realities preached its message with a smile on her face. They did not see the good they were rejecting by trying to fight it.
The Tree allowed that though.
It was their right to choose to perish if that is what they truly desire.
----------
Spike had never felt more alive than he had in this moment as he swung his runic blade into Windego spirits, its magic making them screech in agony as it cut them right through their Spirit. The trio of nightmares were working in unison through the sky, scorching the amalgamation of frost spirits with magic as the laughed in maniacal glee. The lesser warriors like Earth ponies and Buffalo were succumbing to the overwhelming force of the millions of giant spirits that spilled onto the land like a Tsunami. Even Some of the Medium sized dragons were growing too cold to fight properly.
Still Spike pressed on. Blasting his emerald flame throughout the sky, Roaring against the onslaught of vicious wraiths that kept the army from advancing any further on the Tree. His powerful body was only an equal to the windegos, not a superior. they pressed against him in mass, trying to shove him back, and he responded in kind, digging his armored claws into the earth as the rest of his army pelted the spirits with everything they had.
"NEVER SURRENDER!" Spike roared out. Their numbers were dropping like flies to the encroaching cold, all but the largest or most powerful of them were keeping themselves from being frozen to the core. Dragons of all sizes had already been falling from the sky and shattering into frozen pieces, their internal flames snuffed out by the Windego's frigid might.
Still Spike pressed on. His blade was getting through the thick collection of spirits. Each laborious step brought him that much closer to where the Tree watched on impassively. His flame shot forward, before being snuffed out by the cold.
Even he was starting to feel it now.
Still...Spike Pressed on.
The nightmares were growing sluggish now as the windegos had less targets to focus on. They swirled around the former princesses as they cackled in their maddening frenzy. The cold eyes of the windegos pressed into them for the last time as they were utterly snuffed out and fell to the ground.
"Twilight!" Spike had roared out. His face hardened in furry and he charged forward with the last remaining dregs of strength left in his body slowly succumbing to the mass of freezing entities that clung onto him. He pressed on through the damaged forest he had fought Tirek through. He pressed on through the pain of loss. He pressed on fueled by his own rage until he had the Tree in his sights.
A single ball of energy formed over The Tree of Harmony. A simple ball of energy formed by the Tree's own power. Spike watched as a simple clear explosion emanated from its form.
He watched his massive claws disintegrate as it hit him, and he knew no more once it wiped him out.
The radius of the blast expanded as it enveloped the entirety of the planet, stripping it of life and water in a matter of moments.
This reality was just one of an infinite number that the Tree had its roots in.
Sometimes bad branches needed to be pruned to keep the tree healthy.
----
In a desolate wasteland, devoid of life, a map appeared. With that map came two ponies named Twilight Sparkle and Starlight Glimmer, and a little dragon by the name of Spike. They had been hopping from one timeline to another, having an argument over wrongs they think they had committed against each-other. Starlight looked around her at the flattened, dry, lifeless environment in anger and confusion.
"Where are we?!" She asked to Twilight, the one whom she thought took everything from her.
"The Future...Or rather, the present." Twilight intoned sadly as she looked at Starlight with a hoof on the caste's map.
"But...There is nothing here..." The pink mare said with a frustrated expression, not liking the answer the princess was giving her.
"I wish I could say I was surprised, but every world I come back to is worse than the last. I don't know why my friends and I are so important to Equestria, but we are..."
"I don't believe you!"
"Come on Starlight, look around!" Spike said exasperatedly on the table, extending his claw out to the barren nothingness that had only the wind to keep it company.
"Like I said, everything in the past affects the future, even the tiniest act." Twilight held up a hoof of soil that was robbed of any substance to it in her hoof and let it fall back to the lifeless planet. "...What you are doing leads here...I know I can't stop you, but I thought showing you this might change your mind."
"CHANGE MY MIND!?" Starlight rounded on her "I was perfectly happy until you and YOUR FRIENDS RUINED WHAT I BUILT!"
The tree had heard this conversation so many times before. Just as it would hear it many times in the future. Each and every reality worked together like cogs in a perfect clock. Not every reality would be convinced Harmony is the true path to unify their world, but for the ones that did it knew that the best possible future awaited them. This Twilight that was visiting this failed reality was doing quite well as its element of harmony. She never questioned the tenets of its beliefs for a moment.
Just as it should be.
The magic of friendship is the only magic that can truly....unite them all.
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That...is quite a lesson.
Stay on the predetermined path...or forge your own path outside the set norm.
It's something we should all think about.
We'll see about that...
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7063035 vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/mlp/images/1/12/The_Tree_of_Harmony_S4E02.png/revision/latest?cb=20131126032543
"Do you want to learn about the magic of friendship?"
not gonna lie man that was one hell of an ending
7063617 Thanks!
Better to die free, than live as a slave.
Shouldn't may there be a reality where the tree was destroyed or does it work on the fact that if one it was destroyed then so would all of it.
An we get a happy alternate ending?
7063775 Like I said in the authors note, I know not everyone is going to like this ending, but this is the ending I planned for from the very beginning. Tacking a happy alternate ending onto it afterward would cheapen the message in my opinion.
Plus, if you think about it, Canon is the happy alternate ending, albeit with a sinister undertone to it now.
7063794 Wait I just thought of something, if what you said was true does that mean every bad reality that the tree destroyed?
7063820 Yes, every reality where harmony is rejected will ultimately be "pruned" as it would put it. It will give them an opportunity to repent and try to dole out non lethal punishments, but for the most part if the said reality goes to the point of no return it just wipes the entire planet barren and uses them as examples for the "good" realities
7063850 One finally question, would they have just left? Go to some other part of the world and be like screw that tree let it just by itself for all of time.
7063863 Sounds like a great plan except 1) Ponies were on the brink of extinction due to the windego's that it sent after the ponies. 2) They had no idea about the tree's true motives until it was far too late. 3) The tree has a great amount of influence over ponies decisions, you have to actively go against harmony to have free will, and then it will warp your mind as punishment. 4) The Tree has been doing this for an eternity, it knows exactly what to do and what buttons to push to get what it wants, and the realities that turn sour are useful for cementing that harmony is important to the good realities. 5) even if they actively just left, they would of been killed by the windegos and then the Tree would of made that reality barren.
7063900 Could Discord just taken the lot to a place without the tree, which leads to the question is their a place without the tree because I assume the the only reason the tree could effect the human world was because one of it's element where there?
Also in the "good" reality would the tree find a way to model Spike back into his dragon lord power but on it's side? Just seems to be a waste of a good resource if it doesn't?
Well. We have just been mind fucked.
Good job!
My only complaint is the tags. Don't see why the, Rarity and Romance, tags are there. Really think that should be changed to, Celestia and Luna. Just saying!
Interesting story. A good read!
7063942 Yeah, I kinda regretted those, probably gonna change them soon.
As for the mind fucking, yer welcome
7063922 I don't want to spoil the upcoming season for you but if you dare.... like seriously don't look if you don't was S6 spoilers
There is an episode where spike goes into a competition to gain the title of "dragon lord" , and fyi, I saw this after I came up with the story
7063980 I saw that info on deviantART, I hope to god, hell I will pray to the bloody tree that is the Spikeep we all want.
Well Fuck......Ok army god killers GO and quee music
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7065899 Let me help you with that.
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7066190 ......Dont know anyone but Shulk Sooooo *Bobs head*
7066190 Also
I loved the ending just how you mixed it with the real show and it made sense my only complant it felt rushed
7066908 Thanks, do you know where it felt rushed exactly so I can keep that in mind for later?
7066919 well not trying to be mean I still loved how you ended it but just compared to the other chapters this one just felt rushed I hop that doesn't sound mean but it was still a great. Ending.
7066941 You aren't being mean, you felt the ending was rushed, I was just asking where it felt rushed exactly. Pacing is a fickle creature.
7066982 well if I had to pick one part that felt rushed the most I would have to say it would Be when celestia turned into nightmare star but I do love the idea of an evil celestia and twilight
7066773 In order:
)
Made In Heaven - Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Part 6
Lord English - Homestuck
Vanargand - Boktai 3 (These games are criminally underrated
Madoka - Puella Magi Madoka Magica
7063703 i can imagine tirek laughing his ass off down in tartarus right now
Wait a minute, where did Discord take the Mane Five to? This deserves a sequel or an epilogue because that's a big question. Where in the multiverse did Discord and them escape to. I demand an answer!
7076409 I might just make a sequel
Glad you liked it!
7091817 thanks, this story was killer.
Have a dawwwwwwwwww
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PLOT TWIST!
But what happened to Discord and the five?
7112629 Actually working on a fic about that as we speak :3
7113178 Oh! Ok then, I'll be sure to read it once it's complete!
7124060 Also from another Lauren Faust cartoon no less. Perhaps I'm not so off the mark? :3
7124958 As far as I'm aware the Elements were never used on the changelings
This story was amazing, while I'm a tad disappointed that they lost, the ending more then makes up for it.
Awesome.
Wow...............just..Wow..............................
7066190 you're forgetting one other person. The bane of hell itself.
I have to applaud you for what you did with this story. The brutal finality of the ending really set in stone the tone the question of whether it's better to die free or live on your knees
Admittedly I would have liked more of a build up of the huge fight between the Forces of Freedom vs the Order of Order. :V
So the tree of Harmony is basically a malevolent God, who trades security in the world for the freedom and free will of everyone. I call it a God, because it cannot be stopped. It's OP. It knows every outcome to every situation and decision made. It didn't even give the ponies a choice. Well, it did, but it was a sadistic one that it forced them into with the Windegos. Make a pact with the Devil, or be driven to extinction. The God in some religions gives humanity the gift of free will even though the world isn't secure. Here, however, the Tree rips away that freedom for security. It's a massive control freak.
In a way, this actually reflects another lesson I have heard of. You can't have both security and freedom. Here, the Tree of Harmony has taken away freedom for security.
That is a severely messed up reality I would never live in. And if I did, I would choose to go to Discord's dimension. Since the next story reveals his dimension isn't rooted to the Tree of Harmony. I could deal with living in a chaotic reality if it at least means free will.
There are a few things I'm wondering though. This chapter reveals the Windegos work for the Tree of Harmony and it used them to force pony kind into unknowingly giving up their free will. So that makes me wonder, why does the Tree of Harmony do this? Does it think pony kind is unable to create a functioning society on their own, or does it gain sadistic pleasure out of controlling the lives of all pony kind?
7756691 what can I say it's a good story
Duuuuuuuuuuuuuude.....................i.imgur.com/afTDKAD.jpg
7714095 so the wendigo Ponies are like the collectors or the Reapers in mass effect
Before I read this, what is the Thriller tag.
And how bad does it get ?
8005383 This fic's aim is to be a conspiracy mystery thriller, it's not a particularly happy fic.